My instinct would be to respond to Mrs. Busybody by letting her know that you (as the school official or nurse) are unable to accept reports of illness or infectious conditions by anyone other than the student, parent/guardian or their healthcare provider.

If she has a genuine concern of an untreated infectious condition, the health department is the place for her to go, as they have the authority to investigate such claims, while we do not. I highly doubt she would bother to give them a call.

My job is to keep kids healthy and in school. Major frustration: I make a nursing judgement to keep a child in school because they are FINE and a teacher goes behind my back and calls the parents to pick them up anyway. Of course, the parent calls me upset because they were told they had to pick their child up who was not sick. I refer them right back to the teacher and let them handle it.

Some of you here actually get health forms and physicals before the first day of school? Seriously, I will be spending this entire month tracking that stuff down. It gets sent out way before the July 31st deadline and for 50% of my kids, I will not have by the first day of school.

Starting in the middle of the year is very tough. I learned that the hard way and your first year being the School Nurse is a big adjustment. Give it time and you will get your own groove going. Tell administration about the screenings and get them to agree for you to set up a few days for only screenings, meds and emergencies and be tough about it. Don't let people walk all over you (kids or adults). If you do they will continue to do it over and over again. One step in front of the other.

I just have to offer a side note--our jobs are much the same but also so much different from each other--when I see "all of our nurses" I really chuckle, in my world I AM all of our nurses!
When speaking to staff groups, I sometimes say " I am proud to say that I am the best nurse in the whole district! "

"MSN preferred" for an entry-level bedside position is nothing but degree inflation run rampant in a bad job market.

If a MSN RN wants to apply for a bedside job, wonderful. More power to him. But to say MSN preferred for an entry floor nurse job.... I don't know.... some of these big-metro-magnet-we're the bestest ever hospitals are getting too big for their britches.

This very subject came up yesterday for me as well. What has worked well for me....is I will call the parents 1st before I speak with the student. Some teacher don't like this tact as they want the problem fixed asap. I let the parent know that their child's teachers are reporting poor hygiene/body odors. I will let the parent know if I been seeing the same thing or not. I asked the parent if they would like for me to talk to their child about hygiene or do they want to talk with them first. The parents seemed to be appreciative of the phone call first. While talking with the parents...I try to get a sense of financial problems at home. I do make it very clear that it is staff that has concerns and not necessarily me (unless I have noticed it as well). Most parents would like to speak with their child before I do. Some will ask for me to have the conversation here school as they already had that conversation. If that does not improve the situation I may bring in a school counselor and we will have a chat with the student together. I now work in the Middle school setting but did the same thing when I worked in the lower grades.

I know Kotex will send a box of free pads or tampons if you have a middle or high school.

I guess this counts, but the CDC has a lot of publications like posters and pamphlets that you can order for free. Even the Pink Book (Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases) online is free but $35 if your order the actual book. I even got a really awesome Immunization CD free in the mail with schedules, flyers, and a bunch or other resources. If parents have questions about a particular vaccine I will print it out for them and it's great to send home to remind parents to vaccinate for middle/high school.

I would pop off a quick email, apologize for waking her, attached the required docuentation and necessary info. I'm sure she is aware she had her cranky pants on and probably feels bad as it is. Leave the door open for further communication. This way you have dealt with it and moved on and will hopefully get the required paperwork. I would also cc administration so there is no question re the conversation and the expectations of the school district.